Healthcare Premiums Continue to Soar in So-Called Post-Obamacare Era

The effort by Donald Trump to kill Obamacare apparently hasn’t been as thorough as many people will have you believe. Premiums are continuing to soar, but enrollment is continuing to plummet. Trump’s moves to undermine Obamacare will give ammunition to those who supported this leviathan of a catastrophic takeover of our lives by government (approved by the Supreme Court, because muh constitutions).

But that’s not Trump’s fault as much as it is the Republican-led congress that doesn’t have enough votes in its own party to get rid of the signature Socialist piece of legislation in America today, right up there will Social Security (which, ok, is even more socialist than Obamacare).

After years of surging premiums and deductibles, will 2018 finally be the year that America’s middle class throws in the towel and brings the whole scheme crashing down?

While we won’t know the answer to that question for at least a couple of months, one thing is certain…if it happens it will most definitely be the result of the Trump administration’s efforts to undermine the legislation and not the culmination of years of soaring costs that has rendered healthcare unaffordable for most American families. Well, at least that’s the The Wall Street Journal‘s assessment of the situation:

Consumers will begin signing up Wednesday to take part in the Affordable Care Act next year, kicking off a crucial six-week stretch that could test the law’s durability amid Republican leaders’ continuing desire to see it repealed.

This year’s annual open-enrollment period, the fifth in the ACA’s history, faces more uncertainty than previous years, since the Trump administration has opted to cut the sign-up period by half and pull back $116 million that had been designated for advertising and outreach.

Health analysts widely expect the number of people who purchase insurance through the law’s exchanges to dwindle as a result, fueling a partisan debate over whether the Obama-era law is sinking of its own accord or being undercut by the administration’s actions.

About 12 million people selected or were re-enrolled in the exchanges last year, with about 10.3 million of those actually paying premiums and obtaining coverage in 2017. Analysts expect the number of sign-ups to fall by at least one million during this open-enrollment period, which extends from Nov. 1 through Dec. 15.

Paul Gordon is the publisher and editor of iState.TV. He has published and edited newspapers, poetry magazines and online weekly magazines.
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